County Kildare Community Network

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Organisations

The Beginning

The County Kildare Community Network launched www.kildare.ie in January 1998. The Community Network was the product of a partnership of various agencies, including Action South Kildare (ASK), Kildare County Council, and FÁS.

The ideas that led to the formation of the network were instigated in 1996/7. Action South Kildare applied to the EU under the Horizon Programme for funding and this started the Information Capital 2000 programme. As a result of this programme it was proposed that a community network, a single co-ordinated information resource easily dispersed among agencies and communities, be developed. A committee was formed and they produced a position paper as a background to this proposal.

This position paper included 9 recommendations for setting up a community network. The vehicle for dispersing information would be the world wide web, and following negotiations with Kildare County Council, it was agreed to use the kildare.ie domain for this purpose. Support for the network and technical expertise was provided by Action South Kildare, FÁS and Kildare County Council.

The www.kildare.ie domain went live in January 1998, but the official launch for the website was on December 10, 1998 in the Council Chamber of Kildare County Council, Naas. This included the launch of the Kildare County Council section of the website.

Above: Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy with Karl Duffy (EX CEO Action South Kildare), and Reg
Youster (Webmaster) at the Community Network stand at the Kildare ShowKase exhibition.

The Network is administered by the Kildare Community Network Co. Ltd., a non-profit company set up in July 1999 to oversee the operations of the Community Network. Its board is made up of members of Kildare County Council and ASK, along with business and community representatives.

The network provides hosting and web development expertise to community and voluntary groups in the county. It offers a wide range of content under the kildare.ie domain.

In March 2000 the Network developed a major online tourist guide for the county on kildare.ie website. It included comprehensive listings for accommodation, attractions, heritage, things to do, events and more. The tourist section subsequently attracted an increased amount of traffic, and greatly enhanced the website content.

The Community Network has continued to add new sections to the site, and as is shown by the traffic statistics below, it continues to grow. The Network is currently being redeveloped and marketed with an aim of encouraging more participation and content development.

Above: At the launch of the Community Network at the council offices in Naas, R to L Webmaster Reg Youster gives a tour of the site to Colm Flynn (centre, ASK chairperson) and Councillor Jim Reilly, (chairperson, Kildare County Council).

Traffic Statistics

Traffic to the site has increased substantially since the site first went online in 1998. In January 1998 the site was attracting 12,000 visitors a month. In January 2006 the site attracted 273,728 visitors. (statistics provided by NetTracker Enterprise)